Quotes About Belonging

I grew up in a predominantly Caucasian neighborhood, but my mom is Filipino-Spanish and my dad is Irish.

When I was growing up, I lived in a neighborhood that was largely Latino and I thought I was Latino!

A neighborhood is where, when you go out of it, you get beat up.

Traditionally, I have no right to talk about race. I'm white; I didn't grow up in an all-black neighborhood. But the license I see for myself is I'm a member of the world.

When I grew up, I lived in a neighborhood that had social clubs. It's never delightful to glamorize one's youth. My neighborhood was poor. But people felt part of the neighborhood. This was in Rockaway Beach, Long Island.

I do admit that black men love me. I always forget that, and then I come to a black neighborhood and I remember.

How does one endure in a place they shouldn't be condemned to live in? You could take that same question and apply it to any number of neighborhoods in any number of cities.

I grew up around so many different people in so many different neighborhoods, but the Latino heritage, the neighborhoods, and people have always been a part of my life, ever since I was a kid.

I am not someone who is different from Colorado. I am part of Colorado. I am like my neighbors and my community.

When I go home to Iowa, people assume I live in this very big anonymous place where no one knows each other or wants to. Truth is, I know my neighbors better in Brooklyn than I ever did in Iowa.

People look at me, and I dress a little unusually and they think, 'Oh you must be from California.' Of course, people in California think, 'Oh you must be from from Mars,' so, you know, your next-door neighbour is not necessarily the person that you are going to make a connection with.

The Neighbours cast is like a second family.

I think this is the story of this country, that you get to come here and build a better future for yourself and for your neighbours than you could have anywhere else in the world.

At the end of the day, what would be a Canadian sensibility? Is it Michael Ondaatje? Alice Munro? Is Margaret Atwood more Canadian than Neil Bissoondath?

I'm Japanese, and I'm also white American, and neither camp wants me in their camp.

That's my message: I'm not alone, and neither is anyone else.

I was neither black enough for the black kids or Dominican enough for the Dominican kids. I didn't have a safe category.

I am neither a Bengali nor am I from Delhi's St Stephen's. I am an Allahabad boy.

I'm a black nerd - a blerd!

In high school, I had to hide my comic book side, my nerd side from the civilian world so they wouldn't categorize me. They would try to marginalize me for what I like. I tried to give it up, believe me. I tried to kick the habit. But there's too much I liked about it to give it up completely.

A nerd can call another nerd a nerd.

I'm basically a professional nerd, and I'm still not cool. I'm around people who are cool sometimes, and I know I'm not them. But that's OK; I don't care.

I always felt out of place. I wasn't a cool kid, but I wasn't a nerd, either. I had trouble finding my place. But when I found the music, I had a place of my own.

I was a jock in college and high school, but I didn't hang out with the jocks. I was sort of a nerd who didn't look like a nerd. I never really fit into any social set.